Findings so Far:
1. Open source is popular (agility, perception that it’s cheaper, commercial market is in flux, easier to customize). Disadvantage: level of support (unknown)
2. Commercial tools are becoming more flexible, beginning to accept standards which will allow for a modular, multi-vendor approach
3. We will have several decisions: open source vs commercial, local vs hosted (or a hybrid of those), type of support, possibility of consortial purchases (Reality: will be sharing students across institutions) (reality: multiple combinations of systems possible). Other decision: what modules should be included?
4. Need to stay aware of the current push for potential cost-savings
5. Need to think about exit strategy
6. Lots of data available from other schools: process, evaluation results. However, need to be cautious about the results (e.g., which versions of Bb were used, political issues, different environment, skewed reports)
7. Quick migration possible
8. Multiple award RFP (one award for the core system, one award for other modules)
9. Increased active use of Bb courses from SM10 to SM11.
10. Features we might want: report capability, analytics (Starfish, Signals, CRM, Bb Learn Analytics) that pull data from various sources and generate results used in monitoring performance (within the learning system)– may have to go smaller scale for now
11. RFP needs to be written broadly enough to allow for information about more than just the core LMS features, even if we don’t elect to purchase some of the features.
12. Two “documents”: the RFP (dealbreakers) and the scorecard we use to rate (descriptors of what we’re looking for).

Other Questions:
1. What are the deal-breakers (e.g., external authentication)?
–federation-identity mgt system if hosted
–system is already built
–core features– could be a part of the system or add-ons (uploading documents, online assessment, gradebook, synchronous collaboration, groups, announcements, notifications, interoperability with mobile devices (e.g.,clicker integration), non-academic functions (e.g., HR, the Bb Org concept)
2. What “add-on” tools do we need to consider (eportfolios, assessment, etc.)?
3. What is realistic in order to decide by the end of this year?
4. What are the core features?

Action:
Sarah will share elec copy of standard IT requirements/questions